Somewhere
by wildtiger7
Summary: I wasn't fond of the Cary/Kalinda scene in Parallel Construction, Bitches, so I re-wrote it so that it would make more sense. Kalinda confronts Cary when her information doesn't match his. Spoilers for 5x13.


Cary was surprised to see her again so soon, after she had walked out on the drinks she had invited him to. He had been both relieved and disappointed. Her leaving was probably for the best, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He had figured she would let him make the next move, as she was clearly pissed at him. Or maybe he had been hoping she would let him make the next move, whenever he figured out what the hell that was supposed to be. He still had no idea what he wanted to do, and it didn't help that he had no idea what she was doing.

"May I come in?"

Cary held the door open for her. "What's up?"

"What are you doing?" she asked, turning to face him as he closed the door behind her.

"About what?"

"Why did you send me on a wild goose chase with that fake intel about DEA wiretaps?"

Cary shook his head. "What?"

"I checked it out. As far as I have been able to find out, the DEA has no wiretaps on Lockhart/Gardner, your firm, or Bishop."

Cary stared at her. He seemed more than mildly surprised. "Come on, Cary. Did you really not expect me to check it out?"

Cary swallowed and found his voice. "That's exactly what I expected you to do. That's why I told you, it's obvious our phones are being taped. Since it seemed targeted at Bishop, I just assumed it was the DEA…"

She stared at him, disbelieving. He hastily continued, "Look, why would I give you this information, expecting you to look into it, but it not be accurate? Especially seeing as you could have avoided the whole disaster with the client I stole from Lockhart/Gardner if you hadn't taken my intel at face value. I just assumed you would not take anything I said as valid and look into it!"

He had a point, but Kalinda was far from convinced. "Why did you want me to look into it?"

Cary made an impatient noise. "Because I want to know what's going on. Why are there wiretaps? I assumed it was the DEA looking into Bishop, but based on what you are telling me that is not the case."

"Don't you have your own investigator?"

"Yes, but I felt this was a case where the more the better. We're working on it from our end, that doesn't mean you guys can't work on it from yours."

"Well, there's no wiretaps."

"There's no DEA wiretaps," Cary countered. "The only way the SA's office could've had the info they had was with access to our phones."

Kalinda studied him. She still had no idea whether or not he was telling her the truth, but he was clearly unsettled about something.

"I don't trust you."

"I know. I'm not asking you to. I can't talk you into continuing to look into this - all I can do is suggest you do. I'm not lying about this." He smiled at her. "By the way, thanks for the info." To her confused look, he added, "Telling me it isn't the DEA is valuable information. I have no idea what it means, but at least it's more than I had a few minutes ago." He sighed, her skepticism still evident. "You want a beer?"

She nodded. He got them drinks and headed for the couch, leaving her to decide if she wanted to stand there and drink it or choose a seat. She sat down next to him, but was hardly comfortable. They sat in silence for a few moments, a repeat of their earlier experience at the bar. The atmosphere wasn't quite as tense, but it was a long way from relaxed. Kalinda found herself wondering where do they go from here, and then got annoyed because it seemed like that question came up all the damn time. Where did she want it to go? She wasn't quite sure. But she also wasn't interested in leaving. Somewhere. She wanted this to go somewhere. After a few sips of her beer, Kalinda was once again the one who broke the silence. "In the future, just ask."

He contemplated her. "Would you have agreed to look into it?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I'd still prefer you ask. I don't like playing games."

"You don't like playing games when you're not the one in control, you mean. Come on, you'd have done the same thing to me without a second thought if our roles were reversed."

He had this infuriating habit of making excellent points. She wondered if he thought the same thing of her. "Would you have prefered I asked?"

Cary paused before answering. "Yes, but I would have understood why you didn't. We don't have a relationship where we can just ask one another for things."

"I came here to get out of you why you were giving me the runaround, not for your sensible counter-arguments."

"I _am_ a lawyer."

"We all have our issues to deal with."

Cary was grinning. "Oh? And what are some of yours?"

"Lawyers."

"Surprising that working at a law firm means you have to deal with lawyers on occasion. You could always work somewhere else."

"Like where?"

"I don't know, wherever you want."

"I'm working where I want to."

"Good." He took a sip of his beer. By this point, both he and Kalinda had relaxed into the couch. Noting her apparent comfort, he took a gamble with his next offer. "You're welcome to stay."

Kalinda smiled at him. "Okay."


End file.
